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SECOND
STATION
Jesus carries his cross
From the
Gospel of Matthew 27:27-31
Then the
soldiers of the governor took Jesus into the praetorium, and they
gathered the whole battalion before him. And they stripped him and
put a scarlet robe upon him, and plaiting a crown of thorns they put
it on his head, and put a reed in his right hand. And kneeling
before him they mocked him, saying, “Hail, King of the Jews!” And
they spat upon him, and took the reed and struck him on the head.
And when they had mocked him, they stripped him of the robe, and put
his own clothes on him, and they led him away to crucify him.
From the
Gospel of John 19:17
Jesus
went out, bearing his own cross, to the place of the skull, which is
called in Hebrew Golgotha.
MEDITATION
Condemnation is followed by humiliation. What the soldiers do to
Jesus seems inhuman to us. Indeed, it is inhuman: these are acts of
mockery and contempt which express a dark savagery, indifferent to
the suffering, including physical suffering, needlessly inflicted
upon someone already condemned to the ghastly torture of the cross.
And yet the behaviour of the soldiers is also, sadly, all too human.
A thousand pages from the books of the history of humanity and the
daily news confirm that actions of this kind are not at all foreign
to man. The Apostle Paul has clearly expressed this paradox: “I know
that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh: For I do not
do the good I want, but the evil I do not want is what I do” (Rom
7:18-19).
And so it
is: in our conscience shines the light of goodness, a light which in
many cases is bright and guides us, fortunately, in our decisions.
But often the opposite occurs: this light becomes obscured by
resentment, by unspeakable cravings, by the perversion of our heart.
And then we become cruel, capable of the worst, even of things
unbelievable.
Lord Jesus,
I am one of those who reviled and struck you. It was you yourself
who said, “What you have done to one of the least of my brethren,
you have done to to me” (Mt 25:40). Lord Jesus, forgive me.
THIRD
STATION
Jesus falls the first time
From the
book of the prophet Isaiah 53:4-6
Surely
he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we esteemed him
stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted. But he was wounded for our
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities; upon him was the
chastisement that made us whole, and with his stripes we are healed.
All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his
own way; and the Lord has laid on him the iniquity of us all.
MEDITATION
The Gospels
do not record Jesus falling beneath the cross, yet this ancient
tradition is very likely. We have only to remember that, before
taking up his cross, Jesus had been flogged at Pilate’s command.
After all that had happened after nightfall in the Garden of Olives,
his strength would have been, for all intents and purposes, spent.
Before
turning our attention to the most profound and interior aspects of
Jesus’ passion, let us take a moment to consider the physical pain
that he was forced to endure. Enormous, awful pain, even to his last
breath on the cross, a pain which had to be frightful.
Physical
suffering is the easiest type of pain to eliminate, or at least to
ease, with our modern techniques and practices, with anaesthetics or
other pain treatments. Even though, for many reasons, whether
natural or due to human behaviour, a massive amount of physical
suffering continues to be present in the world.
In any
event, Jesus did not refuse physical suffering and thus he entered
into solidarity with the whole human family, especially all the many
people whose lives, even today, are filled with this kind of pain.
As we watch him fall beneath his cross, let us humbly ask him for
the courage to break open, in a solidarity which goes beyond mere
words, the narrowness of our hearts.
FOURTH
STATION
Jesus meets his Mother
From the Gospel according to John 19:25-27
Standing by the cross of Jesus were his mother, and his mother’s
sister, Mary the wife of Clopas, and Mary Magdalene. When Jesus saw
his mother, and the disciple whom he loved standing near, he said to
his mother, “Woman, behold, your son!” Then he said to the disciple,
“Behold, your mother!” And from that hour the disciple took her to
his own home.
MEDITATION
The Gospels do not directly recount a meeting between Jesus and his
Mother along the way of the cross, but speak instead of the presence
of Mary standing at the foot of the cross. There Jesus speaks to her
and to the beloved disciple, the Evangelist John. His words have an
immediate meaning: he entrusts Mary to John, so that he might take
care of her. Yet his words also have a broader and more profound
meaning: at the foot of the cross Mary is called to utter a second
“yes”, after the “yes” which she spoke at the Annunciation, when she
became the Mother of Jesus and thus opened the door to our
salvation.
With this second “yes”, Mary becomes the Mother of us all, the
Mother of every man and woman for whom Jesus shed his blood. Here
motherhood is a living sign of God’s love and mercy for us. Because
of this, the bonds of affection and trust uniting the Christian
people to Mary are deep and strong. As a result, we have recourse to
her spontaneously, especially at the most difficult times of our
lives.
Mary, however, paid a high price for this universal motherhood.
Simeon had prophesied of her in the Temple of Jerusalem: “a sword
will pierce through your own soul” (Lk 2:35).
Mary, Mother of Jesus and our Mother, help us to feel in our hearts,
tonight and always, the love-filled suffering which joined you to
the cross of your Son.
FIFTH
STATION
Simon of Cyrene helps Jesus carry his cross
A reading from the
Gospel according to Luke 23:26
As they led him
away, they seized one Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the
country, and laid on him the cross, to carry it behind Jesus.
MEDITATION
Jesus must have been
completely exhausted and so the soldiers took the first unlucky
person they could find and told him to carry the cross. So too, in
everyday life, the cross, in many different forms – whether as
sickness or a serious accident, the death of a loved one or the loss
of work – falls upon us, often unexpectedly. We see in this only a
stroke of bad luck, or at worst, a tragedy.
Jesus, however, said
to his disciples, “if any man would come after me, let him deny
himself and take up his cross and follow me” (Mt 16:24). These are
not easy words; in fact, as far as real life is concerned, they are
the most difficult words in the entire Gospel. Our whole being,
everything within us, rebels against these words.
Jesus, however, goes
on to say, “For whoever would save his life will lose it, and
whoever loses his life for my sake will find it” (Mt 16:25). Let us
stop for a moment and reflect on the words: “for my sake”. Here we
see the very essence of Jesus’ claim, his self-awareness and the
demands he makes of us. Jesus is at the heart of everything, he is
the Son of God who is one with God the Father (cf. Jn 10:30), he is
the one Saviour (cf. Acts 4:12).
In effect, what
seemed at first to be merely a stroke of bad luck or a tragedy not
infrequently is shown to be a door which opens in our lives, leading
to a greater good. But it is not always like this: many times, in
this world, tragedies remain simply painful failures. Here again
Jesus has something to tell us: after the cross, he rose from the
dead, and he rose as the firstborn among many brethren (cf. Rom
8:29; 1Cor 15:20). His cross can not be separated from his
resurrection. Only by believing in the resurrection can we
meaningfully advance along the way of the cross. |
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